Time of our Lives
by awillowdeeplyscarred
Summary: East High's prom. Follow the Wildcats as they go through drama, romance, celing srinklers, overpriced tuxes, and...pancakes? Co-written with Sami 8D. Please R
1. Chapter 1: Whipped

**Author's Note: **I know I should be updating the stories right now, but I've had this idea in my head for a while and want to get it down before the creative juices stop flowing. I will gte to the others soon. Please review! Sami 8D helped me a lot with this chapter.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything except stuff you don't recognize and some of the plot.

**Time of Our Lives**

**Chapter 1: Whipped**

**By musiclover94 and Sami 8D**

It was a bleak Monday morning as some of the East High seniors slumped into homeroom. The air inside the classroom was thick and heavy with humidity.

"I want this school year to be _over!_" Gabriella groaned and slumped more in her seat.

"I hear you," Taylor said, fanning herself with a piece of paper the teacher had handed out.

"At least there's only three more weeks," Sharpay said, looking uncomfortable in her seat.

"More like two weeks and a day, or fifteen days. You don't count weekends." Taylor said matter-of-factly. Even in the unbearable heat, Taylor was still intelligent, as her peers' brains were slowly being turned to mush.

"What's this?" Kelsi asked, noticing the type on the paper her friend was fanning herself with.

Taylor stopped fanning herself and looked at the side of the paper Kelsi was pointing at.

"East High Prom…Saturday, May 31st, 2008…Lava Springs Country Club Ballroom," Taylor read. They all looked as one to Ryan and Sharpay.

"The prom's at Lava Springs?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. It kind of slipped our minds. Really!" Ryan said, answering their disbelieving faces.

"But why is it _there?_" Troy asked. The memories he had at the Evans's club weren't the best.

"There's no other country clubs around. And who wants their prom in a gym reeking of sweaty socks?" Sharpay shivered at the thought.

"At least it's soon," Taylor said, looking at the leaflet again.

Gabriella gasped. "How am I going to find a dress in two weeks?!"

Troy laughed. "You'll manage, Brie."

It was an unusually mild morning as Troy and Gabriella walked to school, their hands entwined in the others.

"Go to prom with me?" Troy asked suddenly. He had a look of genuine worry on his face.

"Of course, Troy! You don't even have to ask." She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. It was simple, but sweet. Troy, overcome by relief the she had said yes, picked her up and spun her around, still kissing her lovingly.

"So we're going to Marshall's?" Taylor asked, sitting in a kitchen chair in Sharpay's lavish kitchen along with Gabriella, Sharpay, Martha, and Kelsi.

"Yeah," Sharpay said, checking her purse for the sixth time.

"What if all the dresses are gone?" Gabriella said worriedly.

Sharpay looked up and smiled at her friend. "They won't be, trust me."

"Who are you going to prom with, Martha?" Gabriella asked as they combed through rack after rack of dressed from floor sweeping to mini.

"Alex Logan," she replied happily, moving over a layer of dresses nearby.

"How does this look?" Taylor asked, holding a red and gold knee length A-line dress with a ribbon around the waist and a halter-top.

"I like it! It goes great with your skin tone," Kelsi said, looking at the number.

Taylor smiled and added it to the pile she had slung over her shoulder.

"How about this?" Gabriella asked, showing them a bright white floor length dress with jewels at the waist.

"Chic!" Martha exclaimed.

"What about this?" Kelsi asked after a few moments silence. She had a short pale yellow dress with a spaghetti strap style. It made her look a bit like Tinkerbell.

"It makes you look like a princess, Kels," Sharpay smiled.

After several hours of shopping and overplayed retail store music, they had all found their prom getup, shoes and all. Taylor had gotten the red and gold dress, Kelsi had gotten the pale yellow number, Martha had purchased a fiery red dress that let her dance, Gabriella had gotten the white gown, and Sharpay had bought a pale pink strapless dress that fell to the floor in sheets.

Meanwhile, Troy, Chad, and Ryan were in a tuxedo store attempting to find something affordable. They felt slightly out of place in the mostly gray and black shop, as they were probably the only ones under thirty-five in the place.

"Dude, these things are _expensive!_" Chad said as he finished combing through another rack of suits.

"Maybe we should just rent them," Troy said, "There's nothing under 120 he-…" His cell phone rang. He hastily got it out of his pocket and looked at the Picture ID. A tan, dark-haired girl was smiling at him from the small pixels on the screen.

"Gabi?"

"Troy, I need to know something," she said, sounding gravely serious. He could hear distant noises coming from her end of the line.

"Brie, are you ok?" he asked, sounding worried.

"No, Troy, I'm not okay! I'm in a state of panic!"

"What's the problem?" he asked. They guys were all looking at him with puzzled expressions.

"What color is your suit?" she demanded, sounding hysterical.

"I haven't gotten one yet, but I expect it to be black and white. What did you want, lime green and turquoise?" he laughed and was met with a stony silence from his estranged girlfriend.

"This is no laughing matter, Troy."

"Okay, okay…it's black and white."

Gabriella partially covered the mouthpiece and said to one of the girls _Does a black and white tux go with my dress? _A voice sounding like Sharpay's said, almost laughingly _Gabriella, _everything _goes with black and white!_

"What color is the corsage?" she demanded again.

"Um…" Truthfully, he had not thought about a corsage, at least not yet, "red and white, I guess."

"Have you even _gotten _the corsage yet?" she asked wearily.

"No," he said truthfully.

"Well, do so soon! Love you!" she said perkily.

"Will do. I love you, too Brie. See you later," he said and hung up.

He looked over at Chad, who had started to quietly snicker halfway through the conversation. "What?"

"Dude, you're whipped," he grinned, still laughing.

"What does that mean?"

"You're basically Gabriella's love slave." Chad said. After seeing Troy's shocked expression, he added, "Not in a gross way, though. Basically, you'll do anything Gabriella tells you to because of how much you love her."

Troy nodded, still looking a bit puzzled.

"You'll get there, man, you'll get there…" Chad clapped him on the shoulder.

"What time do the girls want us to meet them at Starbucks?" Ryan asked, looking around the store for a clock.

"5:30, I think," Troy said. He checked his watch and jumped. "It's 5:15 now, we'd better hurry."

"Hi Troyboy!" Gabriella smiled as they walked toward them fifteen minutes later with suits and corsages in tow. She kissed him sweetly on the lips. Chad smirked at them.

"Hey, I got the corsage that went with your dress," he said. Now everyone was smirking at them.

"Excellent!" she said and kissed him again, longer this time, her hands around his shoulders, his hands in her sweet-smelling hair.

As they walked back to the bus stop, being eco-friendly teens. Chad whispered in his best friend's ear, "Totally whipped, man."

Troy just smiled.

**Author's Note:** The ending was bad, I know. This it going to probably turn out to be a three-shot, but who knows with me! :D Please review and check out Sami 8D. I got the definition of 'whipped' from her. Review!


	2. Chapter 2: Prom Fever

**Author's Note: **Please review and check out my semi-new story, Flying With a Broken Wing, it needs some reviews ;).

**Disclaimer: **I only own the plot and Ryan's French girlfriend (!).

**Time of Our Lives**

**Chapter 2: Prom Fever**

**By musiclover94**

_Last Chapter…_

"Excellent!" she said and kissed him again, longer this time, her hands around his shoulders, his hands in her sweet-smelling hair.

As they walked back to the bus stop, being eco-friendly teens. Chad whispered in his best friend's ear, "Totally whipped, man."

Troy just smiled.

--

May 31st, 2008, D-Day at East High. The bathrooms were constantly filled up with senior girls who were gossiping about who was going with who and fretting over ghastly facial blemishes in the too-small mirror, hung crookedly on a hook, beaten from decades of pre-prom ambushes.

Gabriella, Taylor, Kelsi, Martha, and Ryan's French girlfriend, Dominique, were in a far corner of the room. They had hoped to get in some words in between classes, but were bombarded by the worst kind of things: teenage girls lacking in self-confidence. They were squeezed in between a fretting blonde girl and a bathroom stall door.

"So we're all going to…?" Taylor prompted.

"My house before the prom." Sharpay said.

"Excellent," Kelsi said.

"What 'ess going on?" She asked in her heavy French accent, putting her blonde head in the circle they had made. Sharpay scowled.

"We're all going to Sharpay's house before prom, Dom," Gabriella said, in a voice of complete understanding.

"Oh, okay," she smiled and went back to fixing her hair in the mirror.

"Goodness knows why Ryan picked _that one _up," Sharpay grumbled.

"I think she's really nice," Martha said.

"You keep on thinking that," Sharpay frowned at her friend. The bell rang, sending everyone in the small room into a state of pandemonium.

The girls emerged several minutes later, bruised and aching. They had only a few minutes to get to their classes, so they quickly bid each other goodbye, Dominique exclaiming to the hallway at large, '_Avoir!_'.

"Ms. Evans! What are you doing?" the hawk-like History teacher barked at Sharpay, who was biting her nails fretfully and fidgeting.

Sharpay became as still as a statue. "Nothing, Ms. Derfs."

"I would prefer that you not bite the dead cells on your hands, Sharpay. And stop twitching in your seat." **(A/N: I think nails are dead cells, but I'm not sure. Correct me if I'm wrong.)**

Sharpay sunk low in her seat, her heavily made-up face turning a dark red.

The teacher turned on her heel, satisfied with the level of humiliation, and continued to write definitions on the board. She stopped midway to the blackboard and said, her back to the class.

"And another note, Ms. Evans. Biting your nails the day of the senior prom is not so wise." She turned around and you could swear that she winked at the blushing blonde.

As the chalk tapped against the green board again, Sharpay felt a piece of notebook paper dig into her arm. Her long hair whipped her in the face as she turned around. Gabriella was holding out a note to her, a goofy grin set across her face. Sharpay snatched the note. It read…

_Shar-_

_Two words: fake nails. I saw your expression after what The Hawk said. :D_

_Everyone's caught the Prom Fever!_

_xx- Gabi_

Sharpay quickly glanced up, checking to make sure Ms. Derfs was still droning on about the Hundred Year War with her back to the class. Sharpay scribbled back a reply on the back.

_Gabi-_

_Thanks. I'm sure someone at the spa will have them. You should consider to, too. JK!_

_Yeah, but it's pretty gross to think about. Derfs must have had her prom in the last century! XD_

_xx- Sharpie_

She flicked the paper on her desk just as the bell rang. Everyone filed out, eager for the last period of the day.

A loud screech issued from the upstairs of the Evan's manor. No one paid much attention to it; it was pretty typical since they had started to primp for the dance of a lifetime.

Hurried footsteps grew louder and louder before the estranged thespian stumbled down the last step.

"Yeah, Sharpay?" Taylor asked, not pausing from her mascara applying.

"My dress…is…_ruined!_" Sharpay sounding close to hyperventilating. Kelsi looked up from putting her hair in curlers to look at the pink dress. It looked the same as it did before, with the exception of a large wrinkle right down the front.

The pianist tried not to laugh at Sharpay, so her look of worry came out to be a quaking smile. "Uh, Sharpay?"

"What?" she asked dramatically.

"There's a thing called an iron," she said laughingly.

"You can't _iron _a _prom dress!_" Sharpay scoffed, sounding scandalized.

Kelsi put down the curlers and examined the tag on the pink dress. It had a little symbol that looked like an iron, with no line through it. She showed this piece of information to her friend, who, after seeing it, turned around and grumbled something about "I knew that…". Kelsi smiled and returned to her curling.

"How do I look?" Gabriella asked twenty minutes later. Her hair was in a loose bun and she was holding a small silver clutch with her dress and silver shoes.

"You look 'ovly, Gabreella," Dominique said, smoothing her ocean blue floor-length Chanel gown. Gabriella smiled at her, "Right back at you."

Taylor pulled back a curtain and squealed, "The limo is here!"

All the teens giddily walked out the door and carefully stepped down the steps to the black doors. Kelsi opened it to reveal their dates.

"Hey Dom," Ryan said, kissing the French teen. Sharpay didn't notice, as she was too engrossed in kissing Zeke to see them.

"I see you didn't do anything about your 'fro," Taylor joked to her boyfriend.

"I thought you liked it!" Chad exclaimed, seizing a handful of his locks.

"Just kidding," Taylor said, and proceeded to kissing him.

Gabriella looked at Kelsi, who was laying her curled head on Jason's chest contentedly. Gabriella smiled at them and looked at Troy, who looked at her.

"Ready to have the time of our lives?"

Troy smiled and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. "More than anything."

**Author's Note: **The chapter was bad, I know. The next one is going to be all about the prom and the after-prom stuff (It won't be what you would expect, I promise you.) Please review and check out Flying With a Broken Wing. REVIEW!


	3. Chapter 3: Pancakes

**Author's Note:** The last chapter! Please review.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything.

**Time of Our Lives**

**Chapter 3: Pancakes**

**By musiclover94**

_Last Chapter…_

Gabriella looked at Kelsi, who was laying her curled head on Jason's chest contentedly. Gabriella smiled at them and looked at Troy, who looked at her.

"Ready to have the time of our lives?"

Troy smiled and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. "More than anything."

--

It was a chorus of _clip-clops and tap-taps _as the hundreds of pairs of heels clicked on the hardwood floor toward the doors to the prom. The vast entrance hall was almost packed with anxious seniors. The dance didn't start for a few more minutes, so the dark wood doors, with two attendants on each side like guardians of whatever cheesiness was inside. Basically, if a fire started, everyone was screwed.

"Man, it's hot in here…or is it just me?" Chad laughed at his own weak joke. Taylor lightly punched him in the arm, but still smiling. She stood up on her tiptoes, still not tall enough even with heels on. She kissed him lightly on the lips.

Finally, the attendant people opened the doors with white-gloved hands, and clumps of people filed in, sounding another chorus of high heels.

"Wow." Kelsi said, once stepping in with the rest of the gang.

The huge ballroom was covered in blue, symbolizing the Under the Sea theme (how corny…it _is _prom, after all. The last time school administration could embarrass a forth of the student body.) Various shiny things were hanging from the ceiling, reflecting off some girls' shiny dresses, but not to the we-all-need-sunglasses point.

"It 'ees beautiful!" Dominique exclaimed, still on Ryan's arm.

"Nicely put, Frenchy," Troy mumbled to his girlfriend, using the friendly nickname he had been using for her, causing Gabriella to crack a huge smile, barely able to contain her laughter.

Meanwhile, Sharpay, being Sharpay, was glued to the mirror she had slipped into her evening clutch. Every few seconds, after looking at her perfect face, asked Zeke "Is my face perfect?" And every time, he said, "It looks perfect." After repeating this five times, Sharpay's boyfriend effectively with a kiss.

A song came onto the loudspeakers positioned at all four corners of the room.

_We're both looking for something  
That we've been afraid to find  
It's easier to be broken  
It's easier to hide_

_Looking at you, holding my breath,  
For once in my life, I'm scared to death,  
I'm taking a chance, letting you inside._

_I'm feeling alive all over again,  
As deep as the sky, under my skin  
Like being in love, she says  
For the first time  
Well maybe I'm wrong,  
But I'm feeling right where I belong  
With you tonight  
Like being in love  
Can feel for the first time_

The elegant ballroom may as well have been the hot, sweaty gym then, back at the other school dances. It was basically a mob of people, taking up the whole expanse of the floor. Some people that had worked at Lava Springs over the summer were doing the back-over-your partner move that happened at the Worker's-Only Pool Party. The music was blaring, making any normal teens go deaf within minutes. But, well, the East High seniors weren't exactly normal. Since all their moves were in exact rhythm, as if they were choreographed…

_Come on boy... I've been waiting for somebody to pick up my stroll  
(Well don't waste time give me a sign tell me how you wanna roll)  
I want somebody to speed it up for me then take it down slow  
There's enough room for both  
(Well, I can handle that you just gotta show me where it's at  
Are you ready to go, are you ready to go)_

_If you want it, you already got it  
If you thought it, it better be what you want  
If you feel it, it must be real just  
Say the word and I'll gonna give you what you want_

_Time is waiting (we only got four minutes to save the world)  
No hesitating... grab a boy (grab a girl)  
Time is waiting (we only got four minutes to save the world)  
No hesitating (we only got four minutes, four minutes)_

Once again, it was like the prom was a musical of some sort…people dancing with their friends, music blaring, the somewhat odd DJ being odd. Everything seemed perfect…

Gabriella brought up this point to Troy, as they were shunted aside by some particular feisty classmates, many of them…brainiacs. There is more to them meets the eye, I guess, within the hallowed halls of East High.

Before Troy could say anything, Chad, who had somehow heard their conversation over the music, said matter-of-factly, "Well, seeing as how about half of the student body present is drama people," Sharpay scowled at him at this comment, "they are crazy about getting every dance move perfect, and probably sway the other around them, so a chain reaction forms."

A shocked silence followed this. Then Sharpay said, looking at Chad as if he was a whole new person, "Geez, Taylor _has _changed you!"

"What, I can't just me smart in some things with out my girlfriend's help?"

"What 'ees all this Americane musicque?" Dominique asked them, still dancing with Ryan.

"Basically, a whole bunch of weird beats and some choice unintelligible rap," Kelsi said. Dominique just nodded and Ryan spun her around rather cutely and kissed her.

_Today is a winding road that's taking me to places that I didn't want to go  
Whoa (whoa, whoa, whoa)  
Today in the blink of an eye I'm holding on to something and I do not know why  
I tried_

_I tried to read between the lines  
I tried to look in your eyes  
I want a simple explanation  
For what I'm feeling inside  
I gotta find a way out  
Maybe there's a way out_

_Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer  
Do you know you're unlike any other?  
You'll always be my thunder, and I said  
Your eyes are the brightest of all the colors  
I don't wanna ever love another  
You'll always be my thunder  
So bring on the rain  
And bring on the thunder_

All the apparent choreography broke then. The floor space covered changed by almost half as everyone paired up with whomever they came with. Troy and Gabriella's noses were millimeters from each other, their foreheads touching.

"Gabi?"

"Yeah?" Gabriella asked, looking into his eyes.

"You're my thunder."

Gabriella's face split into a wide grin. Next thing you know, they were kissing, along with the rest of the senior population. It would make a fluff-breather positively melt with the cuteness of it all.

It was ten minutes until prom ended, at least at the ballroom. So there were two more songs left to blare. By now, the girls' new shoes have taken their toll on their feet. They were in a growing pile on the side, off of the dance floor.

_Paperbacks and plastic hearts_

_All are belongings in shopping carts  
It's goodbye  
But we got one more night  
Let's get drunk and ride around  
And make peace with an empty town  
We can make it right_

_Throw it away  
Forget yesterday  
We'll make the great escape  
We won't hear a word they say  
They don't know us anyway  
Watch it burn  
Let it die  
Cause we are finally free tonight_

_Tonight will change our lives  
It's so good to be by your side  
But we'll cry  
We won't give up the fight  
We'll scream loud at the top of our lungs  
And they'll think it's just cause we're young  
And we'll feel so alive_

_Throw it away  
Forget yesterday  
We'll make the great escape  
We won't hear a word they say  
They don't know us anyway  
Watch it burn  
Let it die  
Cause we are finally free tonight_

_All of the wasted time  
The hours that were left behind  
The answers that we'll never find  
They don't mean a thing tonight_

_Throw it away  
Forget yesterday  
We'll make the great escape  
We won't hear a word they say  
They don't know us anyway  
_Apparently, the Lava Springs Ballroom fire alarm pull-down was located very close to where some rowdy football players were dancing. An arm must have hit the wrong place, and the next thing you know, the fire sprinklers were going out, showering all the seniors with water that was God knows how old. No administrators did anything about it, just leaned back against the wall and watched the scene unfold, small smiles across their faces, probably remembering their own proms years ago. Or millenniums. Everyone was still for a moment, the girls frozen by shock, but then someone yelled, "WET DRESS AND TUX PARTY!" and everyone continued to dance, spinning their date under the continuing flow of water, which ironically continued until the end of the song.  
_Throw it away  
Forget yesterday  
We'll make the great escape  
We won't hear a word they say  
They don't know us anyway_

_Throw it away  
Forget yesterday  
We'll make the great escape  
We won't hear a word they say  
They don't know us anyway  
Watch it burn  
Let it die  
Cause we are finally free tonight_

Troy, still soaking the adrenalin from the dance under the man-made rain, picked Gabriella up by the waist and spun her around, nearly whacking several people in the face. Gabriella squealed. Before the brunette, whose hair was sticking to her head, but still wavy, could say anything, Troy picked her up again, as she was considerably shorter then him, and kissed her full on the lips. It was a total Awwwww Moment.

_And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives,  
Where we're gonna be when we turn 25.  
I keep thinking times will never change,  
Keep on thinking things will always be the same.  
But when we leave this year we won't be coming back,  
No more hanging out because were on a different track.  
And if you got something that you need to say,  
You better say it right now because you don't have another day._

_Because we're moving on and we can't slow down.  
These memories are playing like a film without sound.  
And I keep thinking of that night in June,  
I didn't know much of love but it came too soon.  
And there was me and you and well we got real blue,  
Stay at home talking on the telephone, with me,  
We'd get so excited and we'd get so scared,  
Laughing at ourselves thinking life's not fair._

_And this is how it feels._

_As we go on,  
We remember,  
All the times we,  
Had together,  
And as our lives change,  
From what ever,  
We will still be  
Friends Forever…_

Corny, but, as I said before, it was prom, the last dance of high school, or school in general, since colleges didn't have dances, just underground dorm parties every night. The gang all put their arms over each other's shoulders and swayed to the beat. Soon, the whole graduating class was copying them, in one huge circle, some singing the lyrics, some just smiling.

"Kels, are you crying?" Jason asked his girlfriend, who wad defiantly tearing up.

"No," she said shakily as some tears fell from her mascared eyes. Jason just held her closer.

The cool morning air mixed with a delicious smell reached Zeke's nose, instantly waking him. But somehow, this smell he couldn't recognize. He looked around the seven-bed hotel room that happened to be across the street from his girlfriend's country club.

He stumbled to the kitchen and was surprised to find Sharpay slaving over a hot stove. Well, not exactly slaving, just cooking, which Zeke had never seen her do, just eaten whatever he made ravenously.

"Whatcha making?" he asked sleepily, wrapping his arms around her waist, almost causing her to jerk the pan in shock.

"Don't scare me like that! And I'm making pancakes," she scowled at him, but still smiling.

"I thought you didn't bake," he said, grinning slyly and kissed her.

"Zeke, you're gonna make me mess up," she said, but he was kissing him back, abandoning the pancakes.

"You know what you said last night after prom? About life going on, even if we make a mistake?" he said, breaking the kiss.

"Yeah."

"Well, you should abide by that now."

Sharpay feigned thought for a moment, and then said, "Yeah, I guess you're right," with a smile and kissed him again.

**Author's Note:** It was a bad ending, I know, but it's like, ten at night here and my brain's not the best at the moment, but I wanted to get this up. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review! And they didn't do what you thought they did, I promise.


End file.
